Medieval Kingdoms Total War: The Golden Horde

[Dontfearme22]

[A Note: This roster is still WIP and will be progressively updated over time with new units]

The Golden Horde, Ulus of Jochi and Batu Khan
Perhaps no army in the history of Europe before the modern era sowed as much raw, animalistic fear as the Golden Horde. Upon stout ponies and bearing strange weapons of war barbaric hordes of asiatic raiders seemed to descend like a biblical plague upon Christendom. Indeed, it is the fear of the Mongols that even now exists as a branded painful mark in the history of Russia, and all of the lands the Khans put to the torch. Unlike their southern cousins in the Ilkhanate of Persia, the Khans of the Golden Horde never intended, nor wanted to adopt the ways of their European subjects. Instead they stayed in the steppes, with other peoples who better suited themselves to Mongol life. While masses of conscripted Rus infantry march under a impenatrable hail of black arrows, Chinese engineers wheel forth awesome devices of warfare to the drums of the omnipresent unstoppable Mongol cavalry. Born on the steppes, and shielded by a wall of conquered flesh the armies of the Golden Horde descend upon both Europe and Asia, and sow death wherever the Khans desire.

For this roster, I have broken the tiers into three general categories based on the overall army composition of that period:

Tier 1:

Generals Bodyguard:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Keshiq:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Ruthenian Spearmen:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Kharash:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Siege Levies:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Turkic Archers:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Dismounted Cuman Archers:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Rus Foot Archers:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Mangudai Cavalry:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Lancers:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Mongol Heavy Lancers (Early):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Horse Archers:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Heavy Horse Archers (Early):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Turkish Horsemen:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Turkish Heavy Horse Archers:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Cuman Subject Cavalry:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Catapults:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Tier 2:


Generals Bodyguard (High):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Russian Princely Cavalry:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Galician Vohlynian Infantry:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Rus Levy Infantry:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Kurdish Brigands:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Dismounted Druzhina:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Siege Swordsmen:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Genoese Crossbowmen:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Mongol Heavy Lancers (High):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Cuman Lancers:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Turkic Cavalry:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Tier 3:

Mirza Cavalry:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Generals Bodyguard (Late):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Rus Infantry (Late):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Uralic Tribesmen:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Handgunners:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Heavy Lancers (Late):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Crimean Slave Raiders:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Heavy Horse Archers (Late):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Tatar Horse Archers:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Cannons:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Same disclaimer with the Ilkhanate. Some units cross between tiers. Since research on the Golden Horde was considerably harder, their roster is smaller and more units cross tier because there I just less information for me to pin down specific period army compositions on.


--Changelog--

- added Siege Swordsmen Tier 2
- added Dismounted Druzhina Tier 2

Work Progress (subject to updates):
Tier 1 [visually finished, semi-balanced]
Tier 2 [mostly visually finished, unbalanced]
Tier 3 [mostly visually finished, unbalanced]

Ltd - models and answering many, many questions
Slytacular - models and endless help and assistance
Warman - Being a very helpful lead developer and constructing the framework this whole project rests on
Lucem Mundum - helping with model feedback
Uanime5 - Providing many fantastic models and textures, courtesy of the Morning Sun mod for Shogun 2

[Dontfearme22]

outdated-delete

[Russian Nomad 12]

https://youtu.be/afnJbdT4t5g
God Damn Mongolians!
In all seriousness though, how are you going to make the Mongols bread and butter units(Horse Archers and Lancers) strong because in past total war horse archers have been weak and kind of useless. Also the Mongol Lancers generally had light armor and small shields which means a low missle block chance and low armor. Their battlefield tactics of a feigned retreat will be hard to pull off in Multiplayer battles so how are you going to balance their native units to make them strong in battles?

[Bobi_TWR]

https://youtu.be/afnJbdT4t5g
God Damn Mongolians!
In all seriousness though, how are you going to make the Mongols bread and butter units(Horse Archers and Lancers) strong because in past total war horse archers have been weak and kind of useless. Also the Mongol Lancers generally had light armor and small shields which means a low missle block chance and low armor. Their battlefield tactics of a feigned retreat will be hard to pull off in Multiplayer battles so how are you going to balance their native units to make them strong in battles?

How are horse archers weak or useless?

[zsimmortal]

https://youtu.be/afnJbdT4t5g
God Damn Mongolians!
In all seriousness though, how are you going to make the Mongols bread and butter units(Horse Archers and Lancers) strong because in past total war horse archers have been weak and kind of useless. Also the Mongol Lancers generally had light armor and small shields which means a low missle block chance and low armor. Their battlefield tactics of a feigned retreat will be hard to pull off in Multiplayer battles so how are you going to balance their native units to make them strong in battles?

Mongols also had heavy cavalry. It's not like they came out of the steppes and forgot about millennia of body armour improvement that existed in the steppes. Their shields weren't much different than the other steppe groups, such as medium-sized wicker shields.

Feigned retreats and encirclement strategies (the most important Mongol battlefield strategies) won't really work so you'll have to work out how to make the Mongol armies work for you, just like any other cavalry heavy factions.

[Bobsquest]

https://youtu.be/afnJbdT4t5g
God Damn Mongolians!
In all seriousness though, how are you going to make the Mongols bread and butter units(Horse Archers and Lancers) strong because in past total war horse archers have been weak and kind of useless. Also the Mongol Lancers generally had light armor and small shields which means a low missle block chance and low armor. Their battlefield tactics of a feigned retreat will be hard to pull off in Multiplayer battles so how are you going to balance their native units to make them strong in battles?

Mongols also had heavy cavalry. It's not like they came out of the steppes and forgot about millennia of body armour improvement that existed in the steppes. Their shields weren't much different than the other steppe groups, such as medium-sized wicker shields.

Feigned retreats and encirclement strategies (the most important Mongol battlefield strategies) won't really work so you'll have to work out how to make the Mongol armies work for you, just like any other cavalry heavy factions.

You should increase the ammount of men per cavalry unit, their cavalry units should have more men then all other factions because they focused so much on cavalry as evidenced by history:

Öz Beg maintained one of the largest armies in the world, which exceeded 300,000 warriors

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96z_Beg_Khan

For example in Attila a Hun cavalry unit (be it lancers or archers) has 60 man, you should increase the ammount for Golden Horde and Ilkhanate to 80 or 100 for all cavalry units, because why should factions that are not living on the steppe have as many Horse Archers and Lancers as a faction that does, that would would make no sense.

There you have, game is fixxed for Golden Horde and Ilkhanate.

[Russian Nomad 12]

How are horse archers weak or useless?

They usually do less damage then foot archers, have light armor, don't have shields and usually suck in melee engagements.

[Russian Nomad 12]

Mongols also had heavy cavalry. It's not like they came out of the steppes and forgot about millennia of body armour improvement that existed in the steppes. Their shields weren't much different than the other steppe groups, such as medium-sized wicker shields.

Feigned retreats and encirclement strategies (the most important Mongol battlefield strategies) won't really work so you'll have to work out how to make the Mongol armies work for you, just like any other cavalry heavy factions.

They did have heavy lancers but their armor was only lamellar and against Knights with partial or full plate armor they are going to have a hard time. I agree with the guy that said that Mongol cavalry units should have higher numbers because Calvary is their forte.

[zsimmortal]

They did have heavy lancers but their armor was only lamellar and against Knights with partial or full plate armor they are going to have a hard time. I agree with the guy that said that Mongol cavalry units should have higher numbers because Calvary is their forte.

That is nonsense though. I haven't researched the Golden horse, but take a look at the Iranian area. By the time we're talking about full plate armour, a Mongol army would be using things like Jawshan armour, which was also used by the Ottomans, who did just fine against the full plated Hungarian and Polish knights.

[Dontfearme22]

First off, glad TWC is back up. Preview coming as promised.

As dealing with Mongols and balancing, my thought is to obviously, have them have some of the best cavalry in the game. Certainly their basic horse archer unit should be able to run circles around basically anyone but other nomadic cavalry, and even then there will be a edge. I am actually taking a riskier approach and for now I am unsure how it will be reacted to, but I don't want the Mongols to be perfectly balanced. Ideally, they should be OP tier 1, well balanced tier 2, and slightly inferior tier 3 in general, to parallel roughly the historical progression of the Mongol empire and its successors militarily.

My hope is at the end of balancing to have a general who can micromanage well to be able to win a wide variety of battles with only light / heavy horse archers and light / heavy lancers. Anything else is padding around the edges, the core of the strength of the Mongol army was the cavalry and I want to keep it that way. To show ingame why they were so infamously unstoppable. Unfortunately, I don't have the head for numbers this is just me pontificating.

--EDIT--

Tier 1 preview up, hope people like it! Keep in mind there is still a lot of work left to do before its likely all done.

[OutsiderKK]

So we have both Turkic Archers and Cuman Archers. Cumans are Turkic too . Something is wrong here

[Dontfearme22]

So we have both Turkic Archers and Cuman Archers. Cumans are Turkic too . Something is wrong here

I know, but I wanted to distinguish say, the Kipchaks and other Turkic groups farther east and even very deep into central asia vs. the Cumans who regionally were very prominent in Golden Horde history as a distinct entity. Its more like the difference between Spartan and just generic Greek hoplites, the way I see it.

[OutsiderKK]

I know, but I wanted to distinguish say, the Kipchaks and other Turkic groups farther east and even very deep into central asia vs. the Cumans who regionally were very prominent in Golden Horde history as a distinct entity. Its more like the difference between Spartan and just generic Greek hoplites, the way I see it.

Then don't be afraid to add Turkic to the names of the Cuman/Kiypchak Turkic units. I respect you decision though.

[Filips Augustus]

Looks awesome great job!

[Beregond]

I mean no disrespect, but Rus archers look like cumans. both faces and clothes look off

[Ltd.]

Looking very good ! Will be great to try to outsmart them with western armies. Which leads me to balancing them: I'm honestly more in favour of making their unit count, with regards to cavalry for example , higher, instead of making their stats OP. It is not like they were able to defeat western armies because their arrows could penetrate any available armour or that they were warriors with skills never seen before (well, maybe, to some extent) . They mainly used tricks , surprise attacks, their numbers which they split up to attack from several directions and also were not bound by knightly code of conduct.
On the other hand their heavily armoured cavalry was also in terms of armour more than a match for western heavy knights. Lamellar armour tends to be grossly underestimated.

[Dontfearme22]

I mean no disrespect, but Rus archers look like cumans. both faces and clothes look off

Could you be specific on what is incorrect, and then a more accurate alternative?

[Lucem Mundum]

Could you be specific on what is incorrect, and then a more accurate alternative?

The orange and grey pointy hats are Cuman, but the robes look fine to me.

[Dontfearme22]

The orange and grey pointy hats are Cuman, but the robes look fine to me.

The Shapka's? I was under the impression that Rus wore them too, but if not then i'll take them out.

--EDIT-- took them out from the Rus Archers just as a precaution

[You_Guess_Who]

Aren't the name "Cuman Auxiliary" better than "Mercenary" for a recruitable unit? The mercenary unit would be needed too, but as local merc instead of factional unit.